Caribe Development Zone

The Caribe Development Zone (CDZ), as targeted in HACE’s 1995 plan, is our model for concentrated community revitalization strategy. CDZ, in the St. Hugh Neighborhood includes:

• Villas del Caribe a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Development providing 81 units of affordable housing for families developed with support from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program;
• Casa Caribe providing 53 units of affordable rental housing for elders with social services to enable our residents to age in place in a supportive environment, funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 202 Program;
• Caribe Towers providing 57 units of affordable rental housing for elders with social services to enable our residents to age in place in a supportive environment, funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 202 Program; and
• Mercy Life Center, adjacent to both senior housing developments, providing medical and social services to frail elders from the community.

To protect these investments, we also leveraged $500,000 for home repairs to blocks surrounding the CDZ through our Neighborhood Preservation Program to improve and preserve the housing stock, and rehabilitated 100 formerly vacant homes for sale to low-income first-time homebuyers to further stabilize this community.

This concentrated community recovery strategy has: leveraged $50+ million in public and private investment to transform blighted land and vacant factory buildings into affordable, multi-generational supportive housing for 191 families; helped retain residents and attract new ones; increased property values; supports the businesses corridors by expanding the client base; and generated public investments by the School District and the Department of Parks Recreation of the City of Philadelphia.